South Central Farm

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A banner on the fence surrounding the grounds of the erstwhile South Central Farm
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A banner on the fence surrounding the grounds of the erstwhile South Central Farm
South Central Farm from an elevation of 10km
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South Central Farm from an elevation of 10km

The South Central Farm, also known as the South Central Community Garden, was an urban farm and community garden located at East 41st and South Alameda Streets in an industrial area of South Los Angeles, California (formerly known as South Central Los Angeles). At 14 acres (~0.056 km²), it was considered one of the largest urban farms in the United States. The farm has been sold, and the farmers have been evicted. The farmers are disputing the validity of the sale in court and are also having vigils in protest.

Contents

[edit] History

Before the creation of the garden, the land belonged to nine different owners, the largest of which was Alameda-Barbara Investment Company, a real-estate firm which purchased its share in 1980. The company held 80% of the property that would become the present urban garden.[1]The city of Los Angeles acquired the land, by eminent domain, in 1986 for the purpose of building a waste-to-energy incinerator known as the Los Angeles City Energy Recovery Project (LANCER). This idea was abandoned due to community opposition, led by Juanita Tate and Concerned Citizens of South-Central Los Angeles. The city paid $4,786,372 for the property.[2]

The final order of condemnation under eminent domain included a right to repurchase the land should the city sell it for non-public or non-housing purposes within ten years of the condemnation for the largest land owner, Alameda-Barbara Investment Company. The City sold the property to the L.A. Harbor Department in 1994.

In July 1994 the Harbor Department granted a revocable permit to the L.A. Regional Food Bank – a private, nonprofit food-distribution network housed across the street from the Lancer incinerator site – to occupy and use the site as a community garden.

In 2001, Ralph Horowitz, a partner in former property owner Alameda-Barbara sued the City for breach of contract, for failure to honor the original right of repurchase. The City denied his claim.[3]

In 2003, the City of L.A. settled with Horowitz, in a closed door session. [3] The sale was for $5,050,000 [4], slightly above the $4.8 million the city paid for it in the eminent domain seizure. The settlement was done to comply with the repurchase clause as the court had mandated. Horowitz agreed to donate 2.6 acres of the site, valued at nearly $3,000,000, for a public soccer field, as part of the settlement. The City Council discussed and approved the terms of the settlement in closed session. The South Central Farm's Lawyer, Patrick Dunlevy, claims that despite repeated requests, negotiation documents relating to the session, have never been released.[3]

Shortly thereafter the Los Angeles regional Foodbank abandoned the project. In response the farmers formed an organization calling themselves the 'South Central Farmers Feeding Families'.

On January 8, 2004, Horowitz issued a notice to the gardeners setting February 29, 2004, as the termination date for the community garden. In response members of the South Central Farmers Feeding Families obtained legal counsel (Hadsell & Stormer, Inc., and Kaye, Mclane & Bednarski LLP) and filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the sale of the property. The Los Angeles County Superior Court issued a temporary restraining order and later a preliminary injunction halting development of the property until the lawsuit could be settled. The farmers lost the lawsuit and the court raised the injunction, freeing Horowitz to evict the farmers.

Initially, Horowitz sought $16.3 million for the property, more then three times the 1986 eminent domain valuation. In a deal brokered in cooperation by The Trust for Public Land, the SCF have successfully raised a little over six million dollars. Fundraising efforts continued as farmers and celebrities have begun both a tree sitting campaign and occupation of the land, while under the threat of forced eviction by the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department. [5]

On June 7, 2006, the Annenberg Foundation announced that they would donate the money to buy the farm. Horowitz, however, did not respond to the offer, since it came after his May 22 deadline.[6]

At three a.m. on the morning of June 13, 2006, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department arrived at the farm, fully surrounding it by four a.m. At five a.m., the sheriffs entered the farm, giving the occupants 15 minutes to evacuate. At that point, most of the occupants of the land left, with a few verbal skirmishes reported.[7] Other protestors were removed by force and struck with batons, [citation needed] some reported to have been carried by ambulance. [citation needed] According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 40 protesters were arrested. Actress Daryl Hannah was removed from the walnut tree in which she and another tree-sitter had been protesting the eviction and was arrested.

As of June 14, 2006, the farm is being protected by a private security company hired by Horowitz to prevent members of the South Central Farm returning to squat on the land. Horowitz has told the Los Angeles Times and KFI that he would not sell the land to them even if they offered him $100 million, due to the picketing of his house and anti-Semitic remarks directed towards him. [8] [9]

On July 5, 2006, workers began bulldozing the farm amidst protest and acts of civil disobedience. One protester chained himself to a bulldozer and another laid down in front of a bulldozer. Both were arrested. Two others were also arrested, one for allegedly throwing a milk crate at a police officer and the other for allegedly assaulting a bulldozer driver (neither of whom were hurt).[10] Ten people were arrested in total.

On July 12, 2006, Judge Helen I. Bendix heard pre-trial arguments in a class-action suit filed by the farmers that the sale of the land to Horowitz "should be nullified on grounds that there was no prior public notice" of the transaction. The farmers' arguments were rejected on July 27, 2006 when Judge Bendix upheld the sale of the land to Horowitz. Dan Stormer, attorney for the plaintiffs has said he will appeal.[11] [12]

[edit] Current status

  • The City of Los Angeles has provided 7.8 acres of land at an alternate site, which some of the farmers have relocated to and begun cultivating. While the city has offered this land, only 3 acres have actually been made available to the community, and those are located under high voltage power lines. [13]
  • The SCF continues to hold nightly vigils which typically start at 7pm.
  • The appeal of Judge Bendix' decision is still pending.

[edit] Plant life (Biodiversity)

One of many cactus patches that served as natural fencing and food
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One of many cactus patches that served as natural fencing and food
The son of a farmer holding seeds
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The son of a farmer holding seeds
Different variety of tomatoes and beans were often for sale at the Sunday farmers market at the Farm
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Different variety of tomatoes and beans were often for sale at the Sunday farmers market at the Farm

The SCF held an estimated 100 to 150 species of plants, 37 of which have been identified by Dr.Devon G. Peña, professor of anthropology at the Acequia Institute of the University of Washington. According to Dr. Peña, the inventory of plants present at the farm represent its connection to "Mega-Mexico", a Vavilov Center and one of the original anthropological locations where plants were domesticated. This Vavilov center stretches from the southern end of Mexico (Chiapas) up to Southwestern United States. Some of the plants present have been reintroduced to the area by the farmers, descendents of the original inhabitants of Mesoamerica. The relationship between the farmers and the plants is not like the relationship between modern farmers and their crops. Many plants that are seen as weeds by modern farmers have multiple uses to the farmers. These plants function as crops, herbal medicine, spiritual use, and/or as companion plants. [14]

[edit] The Farmers

South Central Farmers at their general meeting
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South Central Farmers at their general meeting

The South Central Farmers consist of approximately 350 poor families from the neighboring community. They are a self-governing organization. This group has transformed the property from a junk filled space into one of the largest urban gardens. Since the notification of the impending destruction of the garden, the group has become politically active and have gathered supporters in politics, higher-learning, entertainment, and abroad.

The operating framework of the SCF is made made up of elected roles recruited from the General Assembly of the farmers. Some of these positions, are publicly visible representatives of the SCF, such as Rufina Juarez and Tezozomoc. These two "voices" are often mistaken for the organization's leaders, because they often need to interact with the outside public. All roles taken by members of the SCF exist solely to fulfill a need or set of needs to continue the healthy life span of the farm. On the farm women fulfill a majority of the roles from accounting to that of lot monitors. Many of the farmers, immigrants from Mexico and Central America, are impoverished.[15]

[edit] Notable supporters

[edit] Critics

Criticism of the SCF has mainly come from the property's current owner Ralph Horowitz, a partner in both the Alameda-Barbara Investment Company and its current incarnation the Libaw-Horowitz Investment Company. He maintains that his property rights are being denied by the farmers. He also claims that the SCF is not an “open” organization, since the entire city cannot be members nor can all residents have access to farm on the land. To be generous to the community, Horowitz has proposed to build a soccer field for the community, built on a set aside portion of three acres. The field would be accessible to all city residents, unlike the SCF is only accessible to the SCF or by the organization's permission. Horowitz states that the use of the remaining portion of the property would be “market driven”. He has also stated that he would consider giving preference to a “quality tenant”, alleging that anything that he does with the property will generate jobs in the community, unlike its current use by the farmers. Horowitz also makes the claim that the operation of the SCF is not fair since there is no cap on the number of years that a farmer may use his or her plot of land and there also no need to make room for some one else, that the farmers simply want to keep the land forever. Throughout the controversry, Horowitz has been paying $25,000 per month in mortgage and maintenance costs of the property, plus legal fees. [16]

Other critics of the farmers are Los Angeles Councilman Dennis P. Zine, who alleges that the SCF is a confrontational group, and Daniel Hernandez who wrote an article about the SCF titled "bushels of complaints". Claims of internal corruption within the South Central Farm such as farmers being evicted for not supporting the actions of Juarez and Tezozomoc have also been made [17].

According to news stories, some of the farmers have accused SCF leadership of locking them out of their plots for not supporting the protests. Leaders of the South Central Farmers have denied these allegations. Other farmers and former farmers have complained that the protests and protesters made it impossible for them to properly tend to their land. Some have moved to a different community garden.

LA Times columnist Steve Lopez covered the controversy with a humorous column that begins: "Former mermaid Daryl Hannah said recently she didn't know there was a farm in South-Central Los Angeles until she got a phone call from a woman named Butterfly. This was back when Joan Baez was living up a tree on the same farm and singing folk songs, and I'd like to thank all of them for their contribution to the first paragraph of this column." [18]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Seeds of Dissension Linger-Farmers in the South Central Community Garden decry the loss of the land to a warehouse project. Some plan to resist the bulldozers.", Erika Hayasaki, Los Angeles Times, October 31, 2005. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-garden31oct31,1,7435458.story
  2. ^ "The Future at War With the Past". Jamey Hecht, FromThewilderness.com, March 22, 2006, 1200PST. http://www.fromthewinderness.com/free/ww3/032206_war_past.shtml.
  3. ^ a b c "History of the South Central Farm How the community has used the land since 1985", Jessica Hoffmann, The New Standard, 2006. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3028
  4. ^ Trouble in the Garden, LA City Beat http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3200&IssueNum=138
  5. ^ http://www.southcentralfarmers.org
  6. ^ "Offer Made To Purchease Farm", ktla news, June 8, 2006. http://ktla.trb.com/news/ktla-urbanfarmdeal,0,3671022.story?coll=ktla-news-1
  7. ^ "L.A. Garden Shut Down; 40 Arrested", Hector Becerra, Megan Garvey and Steve Hymon, Los Angeles Times, June 14, 2006.
  8. ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-farm14jun14,1,4832341.story?coll=la-headlines-california
  9. ^ http://www.cai-la.org/230606.html
  10. ^ "Farmers protest as workers bulldoze South Central LA urban farm", Oskar Garcia, Associated Press, July 5, 2006. Accessed 2006-07-05
  11. ^ "Battle Over Urban Farm Continues In Court", NBC 4, 2006-07-12. Retrieved on 2006-07-12.
  12. ^ http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/15128093.htm
  13. ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-farm14jun14,0,6058002.story?page=2&coll=la-home-headlines
  14. ^ Design Principles For Community-Based Collaborative Management of South Central Farm, Los Angeles, Dr. Devon G. Peña, Steven Garret, May 2006.
  15. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/09/us/09farm.html
  16. ^ http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=20&artnum=2&issue=20060614
  17. ^ http://www.carpediemfilms.org/bushel_of_complaints.html
  18. ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez14jun14,1,3828672.column

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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